Niles North knocked down shot after shot.
It started with Abby George. Then it was Diondre Williams. Then Craig “Dutch” Dawkins. But no matter who rose up from behind the arc, he knocked it down.
Effective three-point shooting has helped the Vikings boys basketball team post a 15-8 record. Niles North suffered a 65-63 loss to Deerfield on Friday, but even in defeat, the Vikings’ ability to hit the big three-pointer shined.
“When we’ve shot the ball pretty well, we’ve won basketball games,” Niles North coach Glenn Olson said. “We kinda like to spread the floor and attack the rim and when you do that, you have to be able to shoot it a little. Three-point shooting is a big part of our offense.”
The Vikings shot 9-for-15 from behind the arc against Deerfield. Before cooling off and shooting 2-for-5 from three in the second half, Niles North shot 70 percent (7-for-10) from beyond the arc in the first half and 5-for-7 in the first quarter.
“They are a fantastic team,” Deerfield’s Joey Lane said after Friday’s game. “They’re a great shooting team from the corner, they’re a great shooting team from anywhere. Abby George is great and so is Diondre Williams. Sometimes they’re just going to knock it down.”
Three-point shooting benefits the Vikings in more ways than one. The team’s skilled shooters open up looks under the basket for the bigs. And on Friday, it was Danilo Ranger who took advantage. He worked the paint for 10 points off the bench.
“Any time you can put 6-foot-6 in there, it helps,” Olson said. “Danilo has had a tough go of it with an ankle injury and we’re proud of how he’s hung in there and battled and I think the good news is we’ve got some big games ahead of us and we think he’s playing his best basketball.”‘
Combine Ranger’s play in the post with the Vikings’ shooters, and you have the key to the team’s offensive success this year. Olson said Niles North doesn’t boast a star player who brings scouts to the stands. Rather, it has multiple players who step up in certain situations.
“The fun thing about this team is that they’re a bunch of grinders. We don’t have a margin for error, we really don’t,” Olson said. “They understand they have to play really, really hard and share the basketball. If we do that, we can be real good.”
Brian De Los Santos is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
